Passage to Neah Bay: day 13

Date: July 25, 2012
44° 23' N 155° 28' W
Previous 24 hour run: 92
Water Temp: 60.8

Date: July 26, 2012, Time: noon PST
45° 06' N 154° 40' W
Wind speed: 6.5 / wind dir: 240 (WSW), Heading: 020, Speed: 2.5
Barometer: 1029, Water Temp: 59.0
Log: 7072.2
Previous 24 hour run: 54

Overnight the wind died down to a few knots and I spend most of the night bobbing around. At around 7am PST (4am local) the wind had increased enough to start to sail again, and I rolled out the Genoa, jibed and got headed back to my destination at 2 to 2.5 knots. It felt good to be moving again. Since then, I haven't stopped moving. The boat speeds increased to 3 and is now finally in the 5.5 range which feels good. I'm making good progress toward my next waypoint again.

I've been sailing in dense fog, on and off for the last two days which feels pretty strange. Traveling along at just under 6 knots into fog is a strange sensation. AIS has again been a great help, I've 'seen' several freighters pass by me, in front and behind. At around 9am my AIS alarm went off as a target was received and its closest point of approach (CPA) was calculated as being within my alarm threshold. It was moving along quickly, 19 knots, and was initially 17nm away, so I had plenty of time to decide how to deal with it. I decided to jibe as the CPA, after I approached a little closer, was getting smaller. The CPA solution was within 0.3nm both sides of the freighter as Luckness moved through the waves. Its surprising that with this ocean being so large, that I would pass so closely to a freighter, but it clearly happens. The other vessel was 1096' long. In the end, after jibing the freighter passed my port side two miles to my north - I spoke to them as they passed and they had seen me on their radar for quite some time. After the freighter passed I jibed again and continued my previous course. I'm fortunate to be doing my passage making in these days when all of these pieces of electronics are available - AIS, GPS, SSB.

Luckness is running well, everything is just fine onboard.

That's all for today. Bye for now.

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